Longterm physical activity associated with decreased rate of waist gain and with a smaller waist circumference in a 30-year longitudinal twin study
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The aim of this 30-year follow-up twin study was to investigate the associations between long-term leisure-time physical activity, weight gain and waist circumference, and to examine whether these are independent of genes and childhood effects. For this study, 89 twin pairs from the large Finnish Twin Cohort, who were discordant for leisure physical activity in both 1975 and 1981 and healthy in 1981, participated in a structured telephone interview at follow-up in 2005. Self-measured weight, waist circumference, and physical activity level for the whole follow-up period were assessed. Main outcome measures included waist circumference at 30-year follow-up as well as change in weight from 1975 to 2005. In the 42 twin pairs discordant for physical activity at all time points during the 30-year follow-up period, the mean weight gain from 1975 to 2005 was 5.4 kg less (P=0.003) and the mean waist circumference 8.4 cm less (P<0.001) in the active compared to the inactive co-twins. These trends were similar for both monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs but were not seen in the 47 twin pairs who were not consistently discordant for physical activity. Based on this data, the authors conclude that, even after controlling for genetic liability and childhood environment, persistent leisure-time physical activity is associated with decreased rate of weight gain and smaller waist circumference.
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